


A Side Story (In the Grand Scheme of Things)

by elfin



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 07:09:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13243122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfin/pseuds/elfin
Summary: After Bixby’s death, Tony visits Morse with a confession





	A Side Story (In the Grand Scheme of Things)

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the Endeavour episode, ‘Ride’

By the time Morse got back to the cabin, he was exhausted and wrung out. He couldn’t shake the image of Bixby, lifeless on the ground, all that exuberance gone, that bright light extinguished. The sky was grey, threatening rain, and he longed to crawl into the narrow bed and hide himself away under the blankets until the sun decided to show itself again. 

He couldn’t decide whether or not he was surprised to find Tony standing on the wooden porch. His suit jacket unbuttoned at the top, his tie loosened. For him, it was almost scruffy. 

‘Tony?’

His friend smiled, but there was no happiness in it, only grief. ‘Sorry to disturb, but I need to talk to you. Before all the... digging starts. I need to tell you something.’

The exhaustion abated somewhat and Morse unlocked the door to the cabin. Tony stayed rooted to the stop next to the wooden railing. ‘Do you want to come in?’

‘I’d prefer to stay out here, if it’s all right with you.’

‘Of course. But, can I get you a drink?’

‘Whisky, please.’

It was early, barely touching noon, but Morse poured two fingers of Scottish whisky and went outside, handing the glass to Tony. He took it but didn’t drink it; instead, he swirled the pale amber liquid slowly, staring into it as if it held all the answers.

‘It’s about... Bix and I. We weren’t just friends.’ Morse didn’t react when Tony lifted his head tentatively to see what his response was. ‘You’re not surprised.’ Relief underlined his words.

‘We shared a room for three years. I like to think, long enough to know you.’ 

‘You’re not surprised about Bix.’

‘No.’ He worried Tony might read into that what he intended him to and be angry, or even more upset, but he just nodded. 

‘He came on to you.’

‘No. But he did test the water.’

‘He always was a terrible flirt.’ There was warm affection in Tony’s voice. ‘That’s how it started, at the Belvedere. Our eyes met across the roulette wheel, you might say. A couple of games, drinks, dinner in the restaurant. When the casino closed he offered me the tour and we ended up having sex on one of the Black Jack tables.’ 

It was all Morse could do not to laugh. 

‘He invited me to the house, one weekend, and we spent two days wrapped up in each other. He drove me to the other side of the estate, we had a picnic and fucked in the passenger seat of the E-Type.’

‘I didn’t know there was room in a Jag.’

‘You’d be amazed.’ Tony took a drink, and Morse watched a stray tear break free and streak down his face. 

‘I’m so sorry.’

‘He didn’t kill himself.’ Spoken with absolute certainty.

‘I know.’

‘You’ll find who did it, won’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Thank you.’ 

Tony turned, rested the glass on the peeling rail. When Morse realised he was crying, he moved to his friend’s side, put his hand flat, high up on his back. He could feel him shuddering with the effort of holding back, of not screaming and shouting at the injustice. Morse had seen it a hundred times before in the bereaved, but it was different now. Tony was someone he cared for, and Bixby was someone he’d liked very much.

He rested his head against Tony’s arm and allowed himself a tear or two as well. 

‘Sorry, old boy.’ Just like Tony to apologise for grieving over a man he’d obviously loved. Morse could recall Bix mentioning him all the time, but he’d put it down to Tony being the man who connected them, who’d brought them together, nothing more. 

Tony had always been so easy to get along with, he and Morse had become firm friends quickly at university, thrown together as roommates. He had a great many friends and acquaintances. Morse had assumed, wrongly, that Bix had been just another one. 

‘I don’t need to ask you to keep this....’

‘Of course not. Wouldn’t tell a soul, you know that.’ He straightened, and was surprised to feel a soft kiss pressed briefly to his hair. 

‘Knew I could count on your discretion.’ Tony finished his drink. ‘Weren’t you even tempted, with Bix, I mean?’

Morse hesitated, finally admitting, ‘Maybe. Just a little. But that’s always been the difference between you and I. You always were braver than me, more adventurous.’

‘It just means I’ll wear out faster.’

‘Nonsense. You’ll still be around long after I’ve succumbed to the call of an old people’s home. You’ll get old slowly, surrounded by grandchildren, with a gorgeous golfing instructor on the side.’

Tony laughed softly. ‘Grandchildren? That would take a miracle.’

He left soon after, knowing the police would be looking to talk to him, sooner or later. For a long time, Morse just stood outside, watching the water on the lake, quiet now. He felt quieter in himself too, calmer for knowing that at least when he’d been with Tony, Bix had been happy. Somehow, that felt important.


End file.
